Jesus told His followers John 14:18“I
will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” He would continue
to live in our heart—comforting, encouraging, and assuring us of His
presence and power to inspire steadfast faith in His Atonement sacrifice no
matter what trial, test, or loss we may have experienced.

The apostles revisited many
places where God’s Truth had already been taught—Acts 14:21“They returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
22
strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith
[continue in the faith]. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the
kingdom of God.’”

Even
though we know that “the Father of mercies” is
“the God of all comfort”2
Corinthians 1:3, it often seems that the discouragements
we meet with are
more than the
encouragements we hear. This may
seem to be the reality,
but it is our privilege and our divine
right to be encouraged, strengthened,
and inspired—because God has promised it. We should know the
reason for discouragements, and the divine
way to be encouraged by the Word of God.

Any
discouragement, depression, or unhappiness we feel is due to not
reminding ourselves of God’s
presence, power, and
promise. God does
not condemn
us for not knowing, but He is ready to
show us, if we will ask Him in
prayer, and in faith. God wants us to be at peace—that
is His
desire—as any loving parent would want their children to have.

The
first Advent of Jesus was for that purpose.
Isaiah 40:1-2“Comfort,
yes, comfort My people!” Says your God.
“Speak comfort to
Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, That her iniquity
is pardoned.”

One of
God’s attributes is to comfort those who are cast down, depressed,
discouraged, and disheartened. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4“Blessed be God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God
of all comfort; who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able
to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we
ourselves are comforted by God.”

After
Jesus ascended, the first century church enjoyed a time of peace
Acts 9:31“It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers,
living in the fear of the Lord.” The third Person of the Trinity, the
Holy Spirit, is equal with God—thus we have the God of encouragement with us
at all times, and He is able to change any situation that is discouraging
us.

There
are conditions to meet, so that God can
encourage us and give us His peace.
These are the same conditions that exist in all dealings between one person
and another in human situations.

Encouragement will come from believing the encouraging words God speaks;
and our discouragement will come from listening to the discouraging lies
that Satan suggests. Victory or defeat is right at this point.
If we listen to Satan we will be defeated and depressed; if we listen to God
we will be inspired and encouraged.

The
devil always works through our mind with thoughts, ideas, and suggestions.
If we do not know these are from him, they will influence our reasoning, and
we can think they are true and right. Even though God loves us; He is
always with us; and the atoning Blood He shed for us should mean
everything,
it will mean nothing to us if we listen to the devil and accept his
suggestions.

We
must know Satan’s game plan. He never confronts us directly; never
identifies himself, and never says: I’ve come to discourage you, tell you
lies, and make you unhappy. That is not his strategy, but he
will suggest that we are not making spiritual progress; or that we have not had
an answer to prayer lately—anything that would discourage or depress us.

The devil will suggest that God does not want
to heal us; that the
financial blessing will not be received; or an attitude will
not change—and
give some reason why they will not. He suggests that God is displeased
with us; that we do not have enough faith; or we do not deserve the answer.
The devil will suggest anything and everything, but
never what God’s Word
says. Our discouragement then, comes from listening to, and believing
what Satan puts in our mind.

However, the moment we listen to, and believe in, what God says in His
Word, we will be encouraged and inspired. True encouragement comes
from believing encouraging words of Scripture—especially when we know that
there is divine power to back them up.

Every thought or any suggestion that would discourage us about God, is
from Satan, who is the father of lies. The devil tells us that God has
something against us, or that He does not want to help us. Satan has
the ability to inject thoughts in our mind and speak directly to our
conscious reasoning—and these thoughts are always depressing.

Once the devil’s identity is known and we know that the discouragement is
from him, he will have to flee, because a thief will not stay in the
open—only remain under cover. When we know
that it is the devil who is
suggesting these depressing and foreboding things to our mind, we will not
listen to him; we will reject such thoughts, and will not act on them.
Satan cannot harm anyone who will not believe what he is suggesting.

Adam enjoyed a perfect environment in the Garden; he had the presence of
God and a close friendship with Him. The devil could not touch him
until he got Adam’s attention, and began to suggest things to his mind,
which led directly to Adam accepting them as true, and then acting on those
proposals. When Adam believed the devil, it robbed him of everything
God had given him.

Job had serious troubles and losses; he said that God just took those
things away from him without any reason—to just see how much he could
tolerate. Imagine how cruel a parent would be to do such things to a
child—to just see how much they could stand. Those things happened to
Job because of his self-righteousness; his unbelief, and his rebellion
toward God, and because he did not know God’s true character.

Satan could not do a thing to Job, or even get God’s consent to harm him,
until the devil got Job’s consent.
Job 3:25-26“For the thing which I
greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto
me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet
trouble came.” He believed what the devil put in his mind, like Jonah
did. Jonah 2:8“They that observe lying vanities forsake their own
mercy.” “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that
could be theirs.”

Job listened to the devil, and it landed him on an ash heap full of
sores; Jonah listened to the devil and he found himself in the stomach of a
fish—in the middle of the ocean. The devil could not have harmed Adam,
Job, Jonah, or anyone else, if they had not believed him. All the
power Satan has to bring defeat, disharmony, discouragement, and trouble
into our home, is because we have listened
to him and rejected what God has
promised.

God does not want us to be robbed of His blessings and encouragement—but
He is patient with us, and He will teach us how to receive and enjoy all
that He wants to give us. We just need to stop
listening to Satan’s
lies, and start believing God’s Word. When we do, Satan’s power will
be broken over all those things that make us discouraged—in our home;
concerning our health; our financial matters; any employment issue, and
everything else.

The Holy Spirit always comforts, encourages, enlightens, inspires, and
strengthens. The Holy Spirit always brings
positive blessings; and the
devil always gives negative things. It may seem that people in the
Bible were not tempted as seriously as
we often are, but Satan is the same
in all ages. He lied and defeated Adam, and he has been lying and
defeating millions ever since.

The man who came to Jesus for the healing of his son, only had to believe
and accept God’s Word for victory. John 4:48-49“Then said Jesus unto
him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The
nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die;” but Jesus did not
go with him to heal the boy, He just gave him the promise;
50“Go thy way;
thy son liveth.”

For certain, Satan was right there to suggest plenty to that man.
He would have told him that the boy was not
healed, or that he has passed
away after he left the house. Satan would have painted a funeral scene
in the man’s mind.

If we think that it would be easy for the nobleman to believe what Jesus
said at that time, the fact is, it would be harder then for him to believe
Jesus; because all the people said Jesus was not who He said He was.

Also Isaiah 53:2“He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.” The religious teachers
and the Jews said that Jesus was not the Messiah, and was deceiving people.
The nobleman, then, risked the life of his son on someone everyone said was
a deceiver.

Today, however, we know God’s Word is true; that Jesus
is the Messiah;
and that every promise is Yes because of the Atonement sacrifice He made for
us. The nobleman, however, held on to the promise Jesus gave him.
“And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went
his way.”

Instead of seeing the boy as Satan pictured him, the man found him
delivered as Jesus said. John 4:52-53“Then he inquired of them the
hour when he got better. And they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the
seventh hour the fever left him.’ So the father knew that it was at
the same hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives.’ And he
himself believed, and his whole household.”

Scripture will always be fulfilled, when we believe what God has written.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our
Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good
hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”

Whenever we face a difficult situation, and we are seriously tested in our
faith, we have God’s Word to encourage, strengthen, and inspire us—but it is
our responsibility to read what He has to say to
be encouraged.
Romans
15:4“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,
so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might
have hope.”